Adding SSD to Pavilion M7-1015dx

[Monte_Davis]

I have installed four SSDs easily in desktop systems, and know BIOS/MBR disk setup and installation well. But I am less familiar with laptops and with the locked-down BIOS HP prefers . When the factory HDD in my wife's  Pavilion M7-1015dx died recently, I attempted to replace it with a Kingston SUV400 SSD and do a fresh Win 10 x64 install.  The drive was always  recognized , Win installation always proceeded normally, but I was never able to get  past the first restart -- usually got a blue screen citing winload.efi or winload.exe, and was unable to repair automatically or manually (diskpart checks, rebuildbcd, etc.) I deleted all  partitions between each attempt and let the vWindows installer recreate. 

I tried legacy support (CSM vs. UEFI) enabled OR disabled, installing respectively from  standard OR UEFI (-> GPT partitioning) Windows installation DVD OR   Rufus bootable USB stick. I tried Win 7 x64, thinking if that worked I'd upgrade from there -- same result. My wife needed the laptop, so I got a new HDD and installed Win10 with no problems. Then I cloned that to the SSD via USB3->SATA cable, removed the HDD, swapped in the SSD... and got  BIOS messages saying either "no OS found" or "HD fails SMART."  (When I then temporarily attached it to my desktop system in place of the SSD C: drive there, it booted with no trouble and passed the most thorough drive tests. So both the SSD itself and the Win installation was fine.)

In the end I concluded there must be some "edge case" incompatibility with this particular drive and platform.  My wife has been working from the HDD, and I've exchanged the Kingston SSD for a SanDisk that should arrive today. In the meantime I updated the BIOS (initially InsydeH2O F.29, now F.2E from last year). I hope to make the new SSD the boot drive (main bay) and put the HDD in the second bay for data. If anyone else has encountered  -- and overcome -- any unusual problems with  transititon to SSD in this particular HP model, I'd appreciate suggestions. 

[Huffer]

I have installed lots of SSDs and every now and then you just run into a compatibility issue that is hard to explain. I have never tried a Kingston SSD. What capacity did you install? The UV400 runs from 120 gigs to 960 gigs. 

[Monte_Davis]

It was the SSDNow SUV400S37, 240 GB.

[Huffer]

In theory should not be a problem. I am going to bet the replacement SSD just works. 

[Monte_Davis]

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@Huffer wrote:

In theory should not be a problem. I am going to bet the replacement SSD just works. 

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It did, praise the lord: took a Win 10 x64 UEFI installation with no trouble. BUT... then I put the HDD in the second bay (had not had both in at once during the whole SSD isnatall hassle)...and can't get it recognized. BIOS sees  the SSD (OS, GPT) at port 2, HDD at port 0... even offers to set up RAID, which strikes me as the worst idea ever 🙂

Booting from an Acronis TI21015 CD shows the HDD, and carries out "add a new drive" creating a single simple GPT partition. ( I did that to make sure there was nothing left of its former role as an MBR Win 10 boot drive. )

But neither Win disk management nor Easeus partition manager within Win10 can see it. Switching ports is not an option; the SSD won't boot on the other connector.  Same results with legacy support enabled as with all-UEFI. 

[Monte_Davis · Accepted solution]

Solved:  found an unknown device, ran DriverPack (with care to avoid its crapware), got a clutch of newer Intel and Highpoint drivers, and during their installation 😧 popped up. All is well!